Unlike
seemingly everyone else in the world, I am fairly ambivalent to the recent and
never ending trend of superhero movies that come out one after another. I am
not a drooling fan boy, who loves them all and wants even more, and I’m not
someone who thinks they are killing the medium either. Yes in many ways, they
are all the same – but for the most part, I have fun with them while they’re
playing, and forget them soon after they’re over. What I do wish however is
that more was done to differentiate the movies from each other – all the Marvel
movies look and feel the same, and have the same basic plot over and over
again. All the DC movies, while different from the Marvel movies, are similar
to each other – and are starting to take themselves way too seriously. When
people say that superhero movies are nothing more than modern Westerns – I find
myself somewhat agreeing and disagreeing at the same time. The reason being
that superhero movies could be the
modern Western – but only if the studios behind them let individual directors
take them in different directions – something they are not willing to do, as
any director who has a distinct vision (like say, Edgar Wright) are replaced by
those who will just do what they say.

All
of this has gotten me a little off track to start my review of Big Hero 6 – but
there’s a reason behind that. Yes, it is another superhero origin story –this one
animated, and aimed at children too young for the darkness and violence of the
either the DC or Marvel movies. Yes, you can argue that this is nothing more
than a savvy corporate product from Disney – to get kids hooked on superhero
movies from an even younger age, and you would not be wrong in arguing that.
Yet, even with all those knocks against the film, I couldn’t help but be
thoroughly charmed and entertained by Big Hero 6 – which is smarter and more
fun than just about any other superhero movie in recent years.

The
movie takes place in the near future – in the ingeniously named and designed
city of San Fransoyko, which isn’t quite San Francisco, and isn’t quite Tokyo
but a combination of the two. The hero of the movie is named, appropriately
enough, Hiro (voiced by Ryan Potter) – a 14 year old robotics genius, who has
already graduated high school, but instead of going off to university is
wasting his talent in illegal “bot fights”. Like all Disney children, Hiro is
an orphan – being raised by a kindly Aunt (Maya Rudolph), who idolizes his
older brother, Tadashi (Daniel Henney) – who does go to university, where he
studies under the brilliant robotics pioneer Robert Callaghan (James Cromwell).
Hiro, finally seeing the lab, decides he also has to go there – but needs to
come up with a project to blow Callaghan away – and he does, when he creates “microbots”
– thousands of tiny robots, that he can control and can do anything he tells
them to. Then tragedy strikes – Tadashi and Callaghan are killed in a fire, and
Hiro goes into deep mourning. He is helped out of it when he discovers Tadashi’s
project – named Baymax, a cuddly, marshmallow-like robot who is programmed to
heal people. Together they discover a man in a kabuki mask, who has stolen Hiro’s
microbots, and may be responsible for the fire. Hiro teams up with four of
Tadashi’s friends, three of whom are robotics geniuses themselves, and one
their wise cracking sidekick, to try and stop him.

The story of Big Hero 6 is, admittedly, rather
predictable from beginning to end. Like many superhero origin stories, the film
has to spend so much time setting everything up that the last act of the movie
has to jam so much plot points in, right alongside the action, that everything
feels rushed. But it isn’t really the plot that charmed me so much in the film –
it was the characters themselves. Hiro may be a genius, but he’s also a
teenager, one who has experienced more loss than any 14 year old should have to
– and his grief turns to anger – an anger that could destroy him. But Baymax
follows his programming – and tries to heal Hiro. He is so sweet and lovable,
and programmed only for good that the film ends up having a unique – but welcome
– message for non-violence. This is a movie that values brains rather than
brute strength. While the supporting characters are not as well defined as Hiro
– they leave an impression as well. If more kids want to be like them, rather
than their more violent counterparts in most superhero movies, that is a good
thing.

Big Hero 6 is thoroughly charming from beginning to
end. Yes, in many ways it is a typical Disney movie, and a typical superhero
movie and it would have benefitted from pushing a little further away from the clichés
that define both of those genres. But it does enough different to make it an
excellent animated film – it looks and sounds great – and finds a few different
beats for a superhero movie. I’d rather see a sequel to this than almost any
other superhero movie out there right now.

About Me

I am an accountant, living in Brantford, ON - and although I am married and have beautiful daughter, I still find time to watch a lot of movies. This blog is mostly reviews of new movies - with other musing thrown in as well.